Stalled gender diversity: How line managers’ boundary work (re)produces inequalities

Abstract

Boundary work refers to the strategic actions and practices through which individuals and groups construct, maintain, and legitimize categorical distinctions. Drawing on in-depth interviews with male line managers in Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs), this study critically examines how boundary work is enacted to marginalize women field officers. We foreground the agential role of line managers in actively (re)producing, normalizing, and defending exclusionary boundaries, thereby reinforcing gender inequalities. Crucially, we find that the passivity of senior management is interpreted by line managers as tacit approval, enabling the reinforcement of boundary work that limits boundary permeability (i.e., crossability). We contribute to boundary work literature by centering its discursive nature, illuminating how paternalistic narratives of care and safety are used to legitimize exclusion under the guise of concern. We highlight its gendered enactment as a micro-political process through which male managers align workplace practices with dominant socio-cultural norms to sustain gender hierarchies. Finally, we show how managerial agency interacts with structural inaction, with line managers interpreting senior leaders’ passivity as tacit approval, transforming it into a resource for reinforcing exclusion. Together, these insights offer a more relational and processual view of boundary work, revealing how power is enacted, legitimized, and concealed through everyday managerial practice.